Realm Seekers: Dubious Dealings
by Kersauson
Summary: Skyler Quickrune, adventure hero and brawler fighter, falls into a trade business with a pair of chugawug merchants. Little however do he or his newfound companions know the peril they are in. New chapters every week until the story is finished.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold night in the southern Wilds. The moonbeans were in full bloom and the stars flickered on their backdrop of dark sky. A young adventurer, by name of Skyler Quickrune, trudged slowly through the forest, thinking sadly of warm fires and hot food. He was wary and tense, on the lookout for thieving thugawugs or bands of robgoblins.

A sudden sound caused him to freeze dead in his tracks- he could hear a strong voice, talking unintelligibly. Skyler's heart raced: Thugawugs! There was no mistaking the deep sound of the Chugawugs. Silently, he hid behind a cluster of boulders, and peeped around.

They were Thugawugs alright- and what more, they were busy doing what they do best: pillage, thieve, and run. At that moment, they were busy around a campfire, though it was not theirs. At their feet were two Chugawug merchants, unconscious.

"'Ere we are!" grunted the first Thugawug, as he pulled a large bag of gold coins out of one of the merchant's packs. "This'll be 'nuff to last us a few mon's, eh Bert?"

Bert chuckled. "No' with the way you spen', Tom, las' us less'n a week with tha'."

"Take a gander at this, Bert!" Tom exclaimed suddenly. "This'll fetch us three times mor'n that gold!" With this, he pulled a golden sword from a worn leather sheath. It gleamed in the moonlight with an unnatural fire.

While he observed their antics, Skyler had quietly removed his backpack and retrieved from its depths his Brawler hammer. Though not a noble weapon or of honor, it did the trick, and it came with a beautiful turquoise gem inlaid to boot.

Stashing his backpack in a crack between the boulders, he slowly approached the thugs from behind, flexing his hand around the handle, testing his grip. With a sudden motion, Bert was out. Before Tom had time to even react, he too was out cold.

With a look of contempt, Skyler retrieved his pack from the boulders and brought it over near the warm fire. Scrabbling around in the assorted junk on the bottom, he eventually pulled out some spare bow strings he had found somewhere. He used these to tie and the hands and feet of the Thugawugs. Once they were carefully bound, he took back the sword and gold and returned them to the merchant's pack.

When all was well again, he leaned back on a rock beside the unresponsive merchants. He was so hungry that he even took a small scrap of raw salted bear meat out of one of the chug's boxes. Spearing it on a stick, he began to roast it over the fire. After his somewhat unsatisfying meal, he helped himself to a swig of sasparilla from their canteen.

Settling back, he tilted his hat, folded his arms, and prepared for a long night on the watch.


	2. Chapter 2

Dawn had arrived, and the first rays of sun were glowing between the crags of the Lavender Mountains. Skyler could see the merchant chugs were starting to revive. Chuckling, he started gathering wood to get a breakfast fire going. He had just got the first flames started with his flint and steel when the first merchant sat up groggily.

"Who are you?" he asked sleepily.

"The names Skyler. Skyler Quickrune." Skyler replied. " I saw you guys were in a fix, so I thought I'd do my good turn for the day."

As if suddenly remembering the events of the night before, the chug's eyes widened and he leapt at his pack in a frenzy. Sighing with relief, he pulled the golden sword out. "If I'd lost this…" he said to himself. Turning to the explorer, he thanked him heartily. "I'm much obliged to you. This sword is bound for the Royal Palace in the Sanctuary. If those thugs had gotten a hold of it, we would have been as good as dead."

"Likewise to you, I must say. If it hadn't been for your fire, I would have frozen to death." replied Skyler, grinning.

"I'm Rollug. My friend here is Durnug. We specialize in the trade of rare and valuable weapons and artifacts." Rollug said as he fished around in his pack for some breakfast.

"Good to know ya'." replied the adventurer, shaking his hand. "I'm an adventurer, I pretty much make my living traveling from place to place, doing odd jobs. I go treasure hunting from time to time." He didn't say anything about his Brawler skills: Brawling was looked down on as the most dishonorable form of fighting. True, many Brawlers in those days were criminals, thieves, and even murderers, but not Skyler; he had just never had an opportunity to become a Warrior or a Royal Archer.

Durnug woke up just as Rollug took out a Skillet of Talent from his bag along with a chunk of Frostfang bacon. Rollug explained to his friend about Skyler and his services.

Durnug sat groggily watching the bacon fry. Suddenly, he looked up at Skyler. "How would you like to accompany us to the Sanctuary? I would hazard to guess that you would be rewarded handsomely for your recovery of the Elder Blade."

"Not only that, but we still have quite a journey ahead of us, and as you can tell, neither of us are dab hands at fighting." added Rollug.

"I'll accept your offer gladly," replied Skyler. "It gets powerful lonely in these forests, alone. Not to mention I am nearly out of supplies."

Durnug laughed, and the three new business partners tucked into their delicious hot breakfast.


End file.
